Workshops & Events

View past Book Arts Program workshops.

View our signup and refund policy.

Re-licensure points for educators are available from the Utah State Board of Education for all workshops. For more information: Email or call 801-585-6019. 

 

Scholarship Opportunities

image of tools on a cutting mat

Utah K–12 Educators and
University of Utah Students!

The Book Arts Program is pleased to offer a limited number of community workshop scholarships to currently enrolled University of Utah students and Utah K–12 educators. Two scholarships are available for each workshop, one for each type of recipient. Applicants who have not already been awarded a Book Arts Program community workshop scholarship for the current academic year are eligible to apply, and can submit additional applications for more than one workshop. If you are a K–12 educator in Utah or an enrolled University of Utah student, you are eligible to apply!

Applications must be completed in full by eligible applicants and are accepted on a rolling basis up to one month before the workshop. Recipients will be chosen at random from the pool of eligible applicants for each category of recipient. Book Arts Program staff will inform recipients at least three weeks in advance of the workshop. Recipients are responsible for any costs related to materials and tools outside of the workshop fee.

Scholarship Application
 

2025 In-Person Workshops

July 2025

 

image of blue and white accordion book

Book Arts for K–12 Educators

Allison Chapman

Wednesday & Thursday, July 30–31
10am–5pm

SOLD OUT

This workshop is free and reserved for K–12 Utah educators.

Don’t identify as an artist, but interested in bringing book arts into elementary or secondary classrooms? Join us for this two-day intensive with guest educator, Allison Chapman, and discover how book arts are inherently multi-disciplinary. No previous experience is necessary, but all skill levels are welcome to create both folded and sewn book structures. Emphasis is placed on age-appropriate tools and techniques so that all students are successful in creating books that are bound to be loved. Project samples incorporate science, social studies, English and math lessons and are designed with ease of preparation in mind so that teachers and students can get to the fun part!

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Allison Chapman has been printing since she was young, taught by her grandfather in his hobby printshop. As a college student, she interned with Stan Nelson in the Graphic Arts Division of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History. She then spent over a decade teaching at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts, honing her letterpress craft, and running the K–12 outreach program. After inheriting her grandad's nineteenth-century platen press and collection of vintage images and metal type, Allison founded Igloo Letterpress in Minnesota in 1996. In 2008, she moved to Ohio and found a home in Old Worthington, where the one press grew to ten, outfitting a retail shop, print studio, bookbindery, and hub for creativity. Allison closed the retail shop in 2021, and Igloo is again a home-based business offering custom letterpress printing and hand bookbinding.

 

AUGUST 2025

 

image of cyanotypes

Family Book Arts Workshop:
Cyanotype Pocket-Book

Rachel Urban

Saturday, August 16
12–3pm

$60 per participant

REGISTER

Children ages six to eighteen are invited to bring adult friends or family members to explore the art of cyanotypes. The cyanotype is one of the earliest photographic processes, made by placing objects directly on coated paper and exposing it to light, resulting in a detailed and vibrant blue image of the objects’ silhouette without using a camera. Participants create unique compositions of plant specimens, drawings, and found objects, exposing the coated paper to light to make a print. Everyone leaves with one-of-a-kind cyanotypes in a pocket-book and a basic understanding of this accessible and fascinating process. 


SEPTEMBER 2025

 

image of gold tooled plaquettes

Fundamentals of Blind &
Gold Tooling on Leather

Samuel Feinstein

Saturday & Sunday, September 13 & 14
11am–6pm

$230

SOLD OUT

Please contact the Book Arts Program to be added to the waitlist. 

In this two-day class, students learn the fundamentals of blind tooling and gold tooling on leather, focusing on straight lines and using shellac glaire to affix the gold.  Line-work is one of the most important, fundamental, and versatile decorative techniques used on tooled bindings, and is used in both traditional and contemporary designs.  Students also have time to explore the use of decorative tools within a limited scope. Each participant leaves with a final plaquette using the techniques covered.

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Samuel Feinstein began bookbinding after a traumatic brain injury left him with constant pain and unable to continue his other pursuits. While the pain remains, he found that binding books by hand was a possibility for him. He trained at the North Bennet Street School in the two-year full-time bookbinding program under Jeff Altepeter, full-time instructor, and Martha Kearsley, part-time instructor. He strives to make his dedication and passion evident in his work, with a particular focus on craftsmanship. He currently lives and works in Chicago, Illinois.

 

OCTOBER 2025

riso printed image

Introduction to Risograph

Book Arts Staff

Wednesday, October 22
4:30–7:30pm

$55

REGISTER

What is a Risograph duplicator, and why is it all the rage? The Riso is a Japanese stencil duplicator that blends the functionality of photocopying with the artistry of screen printing. This workshop introduces the requisite skills and best practices for Risograph printing, safe use of the studio cutters, and the Book Arts Studio Use policies. After completing the workshop, participants are invited to apply for independent studio use to produce individual projects. Approved independent users have access to the machine during open studio hours and pay a fee of $10/hour plus materials. 

 

DECEMBER 2025

image of card on letterpress

Print Appreciation &
Booking a Brouhaha Opening

Friday, December 12
4–7pm

Join the Book Arts Program for a double celebration of our annual Print Appreciation and the opening reception for the Booking a Brouhaha exhibition! In the gallery, check out the amazing work from students in academic book arts courses. In the studio, print from a number of provided printing matrices with the option of overprinting these modular elements to match individual taste. We invite the public to drop in and print as many cards as time or wallet allow at $4/card or 3 cards for $10.00. Proceeds support the Book Arts Program outreach and academic programs. 

 

2026 In-Person Workshops

FEBRUARY 2026

image of letterpress valentines

Valenteenies: Love Notes & Calling Cards

Amy Thompson

Saturday, February 7
1–5pm

$65

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Well before the advent of text messaging, the Victorians announced their presence with tasteful calling cards and passed discrete slips of paper to arrange amorous liaisons. Participants in this lively half-day workshop combine antique dingbats, elegant zinc cuts, and movable type from the program’s collection to craft minuscule missives and petite prints. Students choose from a selection of phrases preset in metal type, set brief original messages of their own, or set their names in the manner of the traditional calling card, then letterpress print their designs on the studio’s clamshell presses. Beginners are entreated to attend this delightful printing excursion, as are more accomplished printers.

 

MARCH 2026

image of assemblage art

Book Slices: Assemblage with Books

Sue Cotter

Saturday, March 14
10am–5pm

$120

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Discarded books are an inexpensive (often free) treasure trove of assemblage materials and inspiration. In this workshop, participants are guided through the creation of a small assemblage project. A title section sliced from the spine of a discarded book provides the theme of the work and stimulates ideas. Participants excavate the entire book and its usable parts, working on a prepared support panel and building up layers of found objects and other materials as the theme evolves. Participants leave the workshop with an assemblage piece and learn techniques and methods to create similar work on their own. 

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Sue Cotter is a letterpress printer, artist-book maker, assemblage, and collage artist. After earning her art degree at the University of Nevada, Reno (1983) she went on to study the historic techniques of letterpress printing and bookmaking with Bob Blesse at the University of Nevada, Reno, Black Rock Press (1988–90).  She moved to southern Utah in 1990 where she acquired equipment and established her own letterpress printing and papermaking studio. In recent years, extensive travels have led Cotter to create works that do not require presses and other cumbersome equipment—altered books, books created from unusual found objects, and book-themed assemblage. Cotter has received numerous grants and awards including a Utah Artist Fellowship and a New Forms Grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation. Her work is in Special Collections libraries nationally as well as museums and private collections. She now lives in Parowan, Utah where she and fellow artist Spike Ress have built their home and studios

 

MAY 2026

letterpress prints

Letterpress Printing: Text + Image

Book Arts Staff

Tuesdays, May 12–June 30
4:30–7:30pm

$420

Registration is not yet open. Please check back.

Get a handle on what it takes to crank out an edition of gorgeous letterpress prints. This active, eight-week class introduces the fundamentals of letterpress, from paper selection to mixing ink and printing. Guided by the instructors, participants design and produce individual projects using a variety of relief techniques including metal and wood type, zinc cuts, linoleum blocks, pressure prints, photopolymer plates, and collagraphs. Students should expect to spend time out of class in the studio each week to complete projects.

 

image of bradel case bindings

Introduction to Leather:
Bradel Case Binding

Lili Hall Sharp

Friday & Saturday, May 15–16
10am–5pm

$260

REGISTER

Interested in learning the basics of working with leather as a covering material for handbound books? Join us to learn Lili Sharp's interpretation of the Bradel Case binding, which veers from the traditional structure. The cover is built entirely off the book as a three-part case and the text block is then cased into it, which allows for the parts of the case to be covered in different materials and permits the binder to design the covers off the book. Participants leave the workshop with basic leather working skills and a three-piece Bradel binding.

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Lili Hall Sharp is a design binder, artist, and rare book conservator based in Springville, Utah. She balances a full-time career in book and paper conservation, maintaining a studio art practice, and raising four young boys alongside her artist husband. She studied design binding with Tini Miura, Monique Lallier, Don Glaister, and other respected mentors, and holds a BFA in printmaking and a master’s degree in book conservation and restoration. Lili creates and exhibits fine bindings and artist books, serving as artist, binder, and juror for various exhibitions and editions. She has taught bookbinding, book arts, and decorative paper techniques at universities and workshops, and her work is held in collections both nationally and internationally.

 

JUNE 2026

timeless tome

Timeless Tomes for Tomeless Times:
Exploring Early Modern Leather Binding

Brien Beidler

Thursday–Saturday, June 18–20
10am–5pm

$365

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Participants in this fun, fast-paced workshop will explore 17th and early 18th century binding methods and materials as they create a full-leather binding fit for use and expression in a modern context. Students will employ techniques such as sewing on raised cords and edge trimming in boards, using historic materials such as handmade book board and hide glue. Participants leave with a blind tooled full-leather binding. This class is ideal for anyone searching for an accessible path to learn traditional hand bookbinding with leather, as well as for experienced binders and conservators looking to deepen their knowledge and expand their technical repertoire.

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Brien Beidler is a bookbinder and toolmaker who explores the structure, aesthetics, and impact of pre-industrial bindings. In Brien’s practice, bookbinding and toolmaking are means to investigate the role books have played in the history of ideas and culture. In his binding, Brien is deeply inspired by the processes of traditional bookbinders and uses tools and techniques that replicate the structural and visual properties of historic bindings. In his toolmaking, Brien specializes in hand-engraved finishing tools and other decorative stamps for his own work and other bookbinders, leatherworkers, and woodworkers. He teaches workshops in bookbinding, gold tooling with egg glair, and finishing tool making, and is on the board of Co-Directors for the Paper and Book Intensive. Brien holds an undergraduate degree in Chemistry from the College of Charleston, where he was first introduced to bookbinding in the library’s Special Collections. He was the Director of the Bindery and Conservation Lab at the Charleston Library Society from 2012-2016 before establishing his own practice. His studio is currently based in Minneapolis, MN. www.beidlermade.com


JULY 2026


Sculptural Paper Casting

Nicole Donnelly

Friday–Saturday, July 17–18
10am–5pm

$225 

REGISTER

 In this two-day workshop, participants learn about three-dimensional paper casting. Beginning with a found or constructed object, participants make simple molds, or an impression in silicone, which resists exposure to water and can be used multiple times to create dimensional paper artwork. After production of the mold, participants use paper pulp and sheets of handmade paper to create casts, or replicas of the original object. The paper cast captures and reproduces fine surface details of the original object, resulting in lightweight and precisely editioned paper sculptures.

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Nicole Donnelly is a hand papermaker and visual artist serving as Executive Director at the Morgan Conservatory of Papermaking in Cleveland, OH. She founded community accessible studio paperTHINKtank in 2013 and ushered its growth for over ten years in the Philadelphia arts community. She has taught papermaking for over fifteen years, both as a traditional craft and artistic medium, to students of all ages. She served as Collaborative Papermaker to Brandywine Workshop & Archives, the Brodsky Center at PAFA, and now at the Morgan Conservatory. Her creative and academic research has been published by The Legacy Press and Hand Papermaking magazine, and she served as president of IAPMA (International Association of Hand Papermakers and Paper Artists) for seven years. Donnelly’s mission is to establish handmade paper as a recognized art medium and preserve its value as a craft.

 

Educators’ Intensive: Foster Student Curiosity with Book Arts & Printmaking

Jazmin Gallegos & Rachel Urban

July 29–30, Wednesday & Thursday
10am–5pm

This workshop is free and reserved for K–12 Utah educators.

REGISTER

Join fellow educators for an immersive exploration of book arts and printmaking and discover how these versatile mediums can be integrated into your classroom to foster a creative, collaborative community of inquisitive learners. In this two-day, hands-on workshop, educators create a variety of book forms using easy-to-find materials and incorporating printmaking techniques that can easily be replicated in the classroom. Additionally, educators are introduced to the Provisional printing press, available for check-out and classroom use after training. Explore the historical and contemporary significance of printmaking and the physical book and consider how visual storytelling and bookmaking can help students reflect on the world around them, share their ideas, and connect meaningfully with one another. This workshop is grant-funded and free for all Utah educators. USBE re-licensure hours are available. Space is limited and on a first come, first serve basis. 

 

Your Place, Your Pace:
Bookmaking Sessions

Join us for Your Place, Your Pace, a selection of pre-recorded workshops designed with your convenience in mind. Enjoy bookmaking from the comfort and privacy of your own home. Each session focuses on a different bookmaking technique and can be completed in one sitting or at your own pace. Take one, or take them all! Participants receive recording links and a materials kit, and are invited to ask questions via email. Availability is limited—don’t miss out!

All workshops are pre-recorded, virtual workshops. Participants receive recording links and materials kit. (Shipping included—an additional $25 will be billed for international shipping.)

 

Ethiopian Binding

image of ethiopian bindings

Jazmin Gallegos

$50

Purchase  

 

Ethiopian bindings date back to the fourth century AD in East Africa as a variation of the Coptic codex, originally used for holy texts with parchment pages and wooden covers. This binding style features a unique board attachments where thread passes through diagonal channels in the boards to emerge at the edges. Pairs of sewing stations share a single thread with needles at both ends, producing an attractive, exposed, link-stitch pattern on the spine. The hardcover structure opens completely flat, making it ideal for sketchbooks, journals and recipe books. List of required tools

 

Flat-Back Case Binding

 image of flat back binding

Emily Tipps

$50

Purchase

Most of the hard-cover books we see at the library, bookstore, or on our shelves at home are casebound. This means that the textblock and cover are created separately then adhered together. In this workshop, participants learn the basics of case binding: sewing a textblock with the French web pattern, lining the spine, building a cloth-covered case, and finally “casing in.” The workshop provides solid ground for exploring different variations; case bindings can be thick or thin, rounded or flat-spined, and covered in cloth, paper, leather, or a combination of materials. These durable bindings make excellent journals, sketchbooks, or housing for longer content. List of required tools

 

Secret Belgian Binding

image of secret belgian bindings

Amy Thompson

 $50

Purchase

This binding, developed by Belgian binder Anne Goy in the 1980s, uses primary and secondary sewing to construct the cover and attach the textblock. The book opens flat when complete, and has a distinctive visible sewing pattern that crosses over the spine and onto the boards. List of required tools

 

Japanese Stab Binding

stab bindings

Jazmin Gallegos

$45

Purchase

As opposed to the stiffness of western paper, traditional Japanese paper allows this side-stitched book to open readily. This workshop presents three sewing patterns, providing participants with the skills to explore dozens of additional patterns in the future. List of required tools. List of required tools

 

Customized Bookcloth: Backing Fabric

custom bookcloth

Emily Tipps

$55

Purchase

Fabric offers an attractive and durable solution for covering boxes and book covers, but ready-made bookcloth presents a limited palette of mostly solid colors and humdrum textures. Don't get hemmed in by run-of-the-mill choices! Instead, back textiles with Japanese paper for use as bookcloth. Want to cover an artist's book with calico from grandma's apron? Think art-deco-printed percale would make a swell cover for a blank journal? Would sleek silk be an elegant solution for that photo album? In this workshop, participants expand their ability to tailor bookwork by learning to back natural-fiber fabric with simple materials and easy-to-access tools. List of required tools

 

The Perfect Binding

perfect bindings

Amy Thompson

$45

Purchase

Looking for a simple way to bind single sheets or folios? This workshop presents the perfect solution: the perfect binding! Using a modified approach based on machine binding processes for commercial paperbacks, the instructor guides participants through the construction of a perfect-bound book. A materials kit is provided for a single book and participants are advised on tools to gather or purchase. Leave with a perfect book and the ability to continue the practice. List of required tools

 

Content Round-Up: the Drum-Leaf Binding

drumleaf binding

Marnie Powers-Torrey

$45

Purchase

Developed and perfected by Timothy C. Ely, the drum-leaf binding offers an elegant solution for joining single folios. This simple, ingenious book form allows the artist to work freely with single sheets, unencumbered by imposition concerns until the pages are bound. Because the book opens completely flat, content won’t get hung up in the gutter. Leave with a book bound in quarter cloth and paper covered boards. List of required tools

 

Accordion Variations: 

Session 1

accordions

Marnie Powers-Torrey

$35

Purchase

The first session begins with two basic accordions, introduces a hinged-panel accordion composed of pairs of boards, and then concludes with Hedi Kyle’s beloved flag book. This video sequence covers basic tips to building well-aligned accordions, which can be trickier than the simple-looking form suggests. List of required tools

Session 2

Marnie Powers-Torrey

$35

Purchase

The accordion is a basic book form that can be adapted in many creative ways. The second session explores some options: a concertina with pockets, the retreating accordion, a three-tiered accordion, and a paper slipcase to house the set of books. The slipcase is flexible and can accommodate books from both sessions, if desired. List of required tools

 

Endbands: Recipes & Techniques

endbands

Emily Tipps 

$40 

Purchase

Do you want your books to be a little more gourmet? Endbands contribute to the structure and visual presentation of a book. In this workshop, participants learn to make a variety of these sewn (and stuck-on) beauties. The BAP provides the ingredients and recipes; participants just need a taste for the details and the desire to sample something new! This session covers six endband styles, which participants sew onto instructional “recipe cards” for easy future reference. List of required tools

 

The Clamshell Box: a Safe Place for Books

clamshell box

Emily Tipps 

$65

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When not being read, a book really just wants to be left alone in a safe place. The clamshell box is an ideal enclosure to keep books protected from dust, water, and light damage, as well as the general wear and tear of life on the shelf. Each participant in this workshop constructs a model clamshell box of a set size. Instruction includes basic strategies for measuring objects and cutting materials for future custom boxes. List of required tools

 

Coptic Binding

coptic bindings

Amy Thompson

$45

Purchase

 
In ancient Egypt, the Copts used this binding technique for hundreds of years. Notable for the chain links across the spine and sewn-on boards, the binding is very flexible and can open to 360º for display. List of required tools

 

Long-Stitch with Leather

long stitch

Amy Thompson

$50

Purchase

 

The elegant long-stitch has been used for inventive artists’ books and beautiful journals, but don’t be fooled by the apparent complexity of this exposed-sewing binding. Participants receive one set of materials, and the instructor shares examples with an assortment of thread, buttons, covers, and closures to ensure that the long-stitch never gets old. List of required tools